The petition filed through former law minister and senior lawyer SM Zafar pleaded the court to order the authorities to ease the restrictions imposed on him in the name of security measures, reported the Daily Times.

Earlier, on July 21, a single bench of the Islamabad HC comprising of Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Aslam, had disposed of a similar writ petition barring Dr Khan from interacting with the media, however, allowing him to meet his close relatives subject to security clearance.

The same bench had also dismissed two identical writ petitions on October 31 and November 18 with an observation that the Supreme Court (SC) had already declared that only Dr Khan or his blood relations could file such pleas.

The chief justice said that the SC's decisions were binding on the IHC.

According to the IHC registrar, the petition would be fixed by the chief justice for hearing within a few days.